Monday, October 10, 2005

After the Republican blanket party. . .

. . .for Harriet Miers is finally over, we're going to have to figure out a way to heal this rift. I've contributed my share to it, no doubt. I offer this more as an explanation than an excuse, but I can't help coming to the aid of someone who's being showered with ire from on high for weeks, bound by tradition not to comment. To cripple the woman's chances of being confirmed before she's had a chance to open her mouth in her own defense is exemplary of the behavior so many of us out here in middle America see as "the problem with Washington".

I think most conservatives met this nomination with some trepidation. I did -- wondering why the President didn't go for a "brand name" nominee. And to find out that she'd never been a judge in her life didn't exactly incline me toward her. I was actually bemused by it. But, then I saw some of the rhetoric being bandied about.

My first encounter with it came in a post on Lucianne.com, which I didn't save, unfortunately, and has since expired and disappeared from the server. It was from a poster who was particularly chagrined at her selection -- who referred to those who supported her as "Kool Aid drinkers". That's never been the best tactic in trying to win me over.

Then, I heard about Ann Coulter referring to her as a "cleaning lady," which she is clearly not -- far from it. In fact, I'd wager that Miers would kick Ann's ass in a courtroom setting. And having actually practiced the craft is worth something, no matter how much the scholars would like to convince you otherwise. In that sense, the law is much like engineering. There are university engineers, and then there are real world engineers. Which one would you rather have design the car you drive everyday? So, on that point, Miers clearly outclasses Coulter. That doesn't even begin to touch the other way in which she outclasses Ann -- which is self-evident in the quip, and the fact that she made it on the television show of her close, personal bud, "Skullcracker Bill" Maher -- a veritable study in class, himself. But I digress.

Since then, the internet has been a steady deluge of accusations and counter-accusations, one side referring to the other as "bootlickers," while the other side slaps back with "Wahhabi Republicans" -- which, while more clever than "bootlickers," is just as demeaning. Whatever the case, it's unfortunate that the "debate" has descended to the level that it has. There have been times when I've wanted to post a message on Lucianne that says, "Hey! Look everybody! A Clinton scandal story!" But, I don't think even that would work.

My hope is, sometime in the next few days, both sides will have satisfactorily established the fact that they will slap back when slapped, and will agree to tone things down until the hearings. Or, simply put, everybody ought to just do what I said in my last post. I think conservatism will be much better off for it. But, what do I know? I just drink Kool-Aid and lick boots to get by.